I have plantar fascitis so I need to wear shoes inside. I have indoor and gardening shoes (that are left outside). I also have mats inside and out and currently towels instead of mats because I have a puppy. Barefoot for me is incredibly painful at the moment. I would prefer not to walk at all if possible.

always barefeet at home - except for a few weeks of the year when the ugg boots come out

Shoes off - anything to save housecleaning is good in my book. I'm keen to know of unusual and interesting ways of keeping the shoes organised at the back/front door though - any suggestions?

Hi Rosie,

I have seen some ideas from stacking cubes, to using a small bookshelf to simple cane baskets for every person in the house. Just search it on Houzz and you're bound to see some great ideas.

no..as our floors are quite dirty lol ..thongs in Sunmer and in Winter moccasin..

i dream of a kick drawer in the front entrance, a modified version of this

a kind of pop out skirting board drawer for shoes...

swaneee too narrow ?

Shoes off in our house, and when we built it we even specified a shoes cabinet just inside the front door. But in winter I switch to moccasins indoors, and in summer I wear dedicated indoor thongs. Even though we vacuum at least weekly, the dust builds up and I don't like my heels getting grubby. The whole family lived seven years in South East Asia and we got used to the(very sensible) shoes-off idea.

@swaneee,

Very clever idea and why not, if you could make it work. All you need, is to be able to cover the draw void on the other side of the wall and if it were a bedroom for example, it could be in the bottom of a BIR perhaps.

With my new home, I'm having a little foyer at the front entrance mainly for visitors and there will be a closet for coats etc... and a seat to swap from shoes to slippers for visitors, as well as a nice hallstand to leave their bag or purse whilst visiting.

For us though, every day on a farm, we plan to enter the house from the laundry at the back, remove our shoes and leave them in a purpose built storage area for all the farm clothing including gumboots etc...and have slippers or at least indoor shoes handy to change. The plan then is to be able to wash our hands immediately upon entering and then head off to the kitchen, so the back door will be our shoe area, away from view, so this will be a win win situation not having a pile of shoes to organize or conceal at the front door!!

Barefoot in summer - unless I am doing work. Slippers in winter.
Sometimes I don't wear anything at all -unless I am doing work.

Barbara, this is what we do. We live in the country and have a bench by the door. Its convenient as we all can sit down and change into our slippers. Our guests also do this.

@marco69,

A bench sounds like a great idea but it would have to be one with storage to keep the items dry from the weather, thanks.

I've just had the brushbox floorboards in the kitchen / living room refinished and they look beautiful! Unfortunately husband does not agree with the shoes off thing. It just doesn't sit right to see big outdoor shoes on my pristine (for now) floor.

Always barefoot inside, maybe socks or slippers in winter.

No shoes is good for your feet as regards moving back to a natural shape and having freedom. We have a lovely warm in winter solar slab which is cool in summer so bare feet is fine year round. The texture is lovely to feel through your feet of the tiles or the floor boards, if yours are not warm enough is it possible to insulate the floors like they do in NZ and other cold places. It will save you heating and cooling costs and take away some of the clip clop from footwear. The feet prompt you to clean up with a handy battery stick vac as your feet let you know when there is anything on the floor. Wet paper towel is one of the best ways to get fine glass off the floor, learnt that at Cordon Bleu tech classes, vac or dust pan and then wet paper towel. Without the limits of carpet, music through the house is so nice coming off the timber floors, the cd Mozart for morning coffee or Mozart on the menu is an awesome compilation for those of us with a limited classical palate. So shoes are for arriving, leaving and transport but not for living, preez consider

@wincymeow,

I feel your pain.

Your hubby is not particularly considerate of you or the home.

I have told my hubby he's missing a few brain cells when he takes a step inside the door with muddy boots on, then with a sheepish look on his face, he tries to suggest the mark isn't very serious ha-ha He's not being disrespectful per say, just doesn't think his footwear could be that dirty!!!

Doesn't your hubby understand that walking outside brings in fine grit, even stones depending on the shoe soles and that will ruin your pristine floors very quickly!! Did hubby not contribute to paying for the resurfacing??.....assuming he did, I find it strange that he would be so quick to be wearing his shoes inside if he has to help pay for it again sooner than later, as I'm sure it would not be cheap.

Perhaps you could compromise, if it's the feeling of footwear that he likes, maybe he dislikes slippers or walking in socks, then get him an inside pair of runners so he can still enjoy the feeling but with clean soled shoes, your problems would be solved, if he agreed of course because it would still mean shoes on, shoes off!!

Our house is a 'no shoes' zone, but I'm happy for visitors to wear their shoes inside if they don't mind vacuuming and mopping on their way out ;)

Sorry Stephen, but no shoes on a hard, unforgiving surface is not good for your feet, or any other part of your body. Joints need protection at all times if you wish to be fit and mobile into your old age. By all means have indoor and outdoor shoes, but the indoor ones need just as much cushioning as outdoor ones if you have hard surfaces.

Barefoot unless cold. Looking at comments thinking a very Queensland thing to do.

Makes you wonder how people got on in the world BEFORE shoes!

That would be when homes had mud floors??

In Operating Theatres, "outside" shoes are either covered with slip-on covers, or else swapped for a"clean" pair of shoes, kept in one's locker, which are never worn outside the hospital. Maybe that would be an option for the "shoes inside" group?

Houzz has done this topic to death.

Houzz hasn't done this topic to death, it's everyone responding to the thread!!

None of these threads have a usebuy date ha-ha

New houzzers also want to have their 5c worth!!

@telperien,

Absolutely brilliant thought, we could have a box of hospital slips for visitors, single use and throw out, seriously it could work ha-ha. Do they come in any other colour but blue, it's not my favourite colour ha-ha, wonder if my visitors would use them??

Barb, they actually put up the same topic on the US again this year. Caused fights again.

I honestly can't see how it can cause trouble as you can simply avoid the thread or switch off notifications, silly isn't it. I get so much out of Houzz but always try to keep replies positive and funny.

Always good to be able to have a laught at least once a day or allot more if you live with my hubby ha-ha

Yeah, but TTTrek, you, Barbara, Telperien, myself and the rest of the mob have a sense of humour........................ Aussie humour. We like the threads to be informative, we like to help people with their problems, but we don't take everything so seriously that we can't have a laugh too.

Suddenly today it seems we have winter ........................ and my uggies are NOT coming off.

Yes, cold here today. I'm a barefooter, but the slippers came out today.

I've even got the thermals out and the heater on - it is bitter here. Too much too quickly.

Suns out today A very pleasant afternoon, has been grey and drizzle most of the week ..so nice change

Sorry, Barb, I've only ever seen blue shoe covers!

I'm under a blankie.

Yeah, wuff - you sent it all over here. I must admit the garden is desperate for a decent water.

Mine is a church going surface, very forgiving. I am not pounding the pavement jogging inside to be damaging my ancient hips and knees, just strolling from one room to another, on my lovely shapped, 58 year old feet, picking up toys the grandkids have hidden under couches or rolled under by accident, they didn't do it on porpoise. However my kiwi farm wife who has been in shoes all her life, many of them torturous styles has less natural looking feet, because they never had much freedom. No childhood of running on the beach and gingerly walking down gravel roads and on the headland rocks, just gum boot clad adventure feet, free range feet, now there's something natural.
Minus 2 here tomorrow night, have to get out and cover up the young citrus.

Stephen how can a slab be forgiving?? Anything hard is hard. You want to open up a hornet's nest here? Generally we women do suffer from the torturous styles of shoes men insisted we wear to appease their egos!! :)) Now my feet can't have freedom if I want to be able to walk. Grands have to pick up the toys here, no option, my knees don't bend. Good luck with the citrus. This cold has hit so suddenly.

Meh. I stopped allowing men to decide what shoes I would wear when my feet started hurting. Switched from pointy toes to round, then from high heels to low, then to flats. Now that I don't have to worry about making it to the office, I scuff around in sneakers, runners, sandals, and these really neat skateboard shoes from the local streetwear shop. I'm not sure I'm their idea of a target market, but what the heck!

I still have quite a few pairs of shoes left from my time in Italy - never wear most of them (except the flatties) but I like to take them out and polish them from time to time....

I left my shoes in a taxi once. I was wearing an Easter Bunny costume for work. The taxi company thought it was hilarious, but they brought my shoes to my door.

First thing I do when I get home, remove my shoes. Love the feeling of floorbords on my feet.

LOL jmm, if you are anywhere near my vintage we are not on anyone's target market when it comes to fashion. I went looking for a pair of swim flippers to swim laps at the gym and the enthusiastic sales assistant asked me how old the child was. Asked him if second childhood counted.

Y'all so easily distracted, squirrels! Welcome to my planet, talking about flippers, I can't get swimming duo goggles that will seal to my eye sockets, so I end up with my eyes in the water anyway, waste of time. Someone needs to invent heat mouldable goggles like they do for mouth guards. That's how I made my own anto snore jaw placement device. Aussie bush engineering.
BTW we just had quotes to enclose a 3 sided, acrylic roof sun room with insect protection and clear acrylic blinds, $9,000! Tell them they are dreaming!
I have priced all the components to make 3 panels, one with french doors made out of aluminium security screen and acrylic panels that velcro on and off for winter/summer. The aluminium place will cut all components to specified size and I put together like mechano all for $1400 and the canvas man will stitch up the heavy duty acrylic panels with the velcro for $600. So all up $2000 and a much better seal, easier entry/exit and in any of the powder kote aluminium colours, we want white to match the existing structure. Big save, better job, good on me. A nice holiday in the sun with some of the change. I start next week, I will put up photos when completed. The scotish solar heat/cool policeman triumphs again. See squirrels! Lol

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Barbara. I bench is really brilliant. You have to have a decent size entrance hall/ area. Muddy boots come off outside the door then we step inside and put slippers on. Regular shoes go under the bench. At this time of year I wear sandals in the garden etc and just kick those off outside and put my bare feet into slippers.

PET PEEVE: INDOOR BAREFOOTERS

NEWSFLASH: It is a plainly observable though controversial fact, to me at least, that very few people keep their indoor floors pristine enough for barefoot traffic.

However, that does not seem to stop the oh-so-carefree, INDOOR BAREFOOTERS from taking their grubby, 'floor-feet' on little excursions upon coffee tables, chairs, couches and beds, etc. YUCK! Imagine seating yourself upon someone's couch and making the mistake of placing your hand beside you ON the couch, or forward upon the coffee table, only to feel an icky graininess...or stickiness? So, then you're stuck with continuous hand-washing throughout your visit because THEY could not be bothered to keep their 'floor-feet' off anything....their home being their slovenly castle and all. The YUCK factor and the politics which invariably follow my well-meaning interventions, (I'm an idealist), makes me an irritable, reluctant guest. Which ironically, never seems to stave off the invitations (sigh)! But, it also makes me a tyrannical host: "feet off my settee, Jerri! Not on my mid-century coffee table! No! Your white socks are no longer white, Jade! Aaargh!"

WORSE YET, these oblivious INDOOR BAREFOOTERS tend to then touch and scratch their grubby 'floor-feet' while chatting, and touching their faces, fixing a meal or eating something...OR, shaking my hand. Oh, the humani-...'hygienity!' I feel ill!!!

Yes, yes, I know that I'm whining AND yes, I know that there are worse things in the world: children suffering in Africa etc., but now that you mention it, even THEY tend to wash their feet BEFORE placing them on furniture! Maybe because they value the little they have. I know this from firsthand experience!!

SIMPLE SOLUTION: Indoor shoes! Outdoor Shoes! And, when you place your feet upon anything slip OFF your shoes to reveal your lovely clean feet, which will appreciate the pristine lack of graininess from your last considerate visit.

Anklet and pedicure but...floor-feet!!

barefoot... and not pregnant

Barefoot .... foot funk & all lol ;)

Bare foot here too. And on the sofa.

I have problem feet, both have been operated on but the arthritis is still there so as much as I used to love bare feet I can't have my feet flat on the ground any more that makes my ankle hurt (another story re pinned ankle) so for winter it's ugg boots with a small lift inside them and for summer I have ugg slip ons but can only use them until my ankle hurts so then switch to small heeled sandals, I can't believe anyone would put their feet up on anyone's furniture unless it is their own, even then I wouldn't allow it, I like to keep my things looking nice...however have a son that is a 'challenge' he just is far to casual and although bought up with our values, does his own thing, he does respect that I don't want it done in my home.

I too am Aussie and have a relaxed view of most things and love a good SOH I guess it means when I have spend good money on things I like to preserve them so they last well.

As for bare feet again, I remember they used to get dirty and then I'd have to wash and add moisturiser as I hate cracked feet and being fair skinned mind tend to do that easily.

In closing I respect your views and realize it's different stokes for different folks and lets face it I am of an age now where I feel "life is too short for shit" we just learn to RELAX more, Have a great Christmas everyone no matter where you are....and a happy and safe New Year.

Yep, Life IS too short - pity it takes us so long to learn that.

I was raised on the old Chinese proverb "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". This seems to have been lost in the Me-Me world today.

Merry Christmas to all, a happy and safe New Year and lots of fun Houzzing in 2018.